Many people today constantly live in a state of information overload. For example, they receive emails at work and at home. They watch television programs at home and listen to the radio in their cars. People have to review voicemail messages left at their home numbers, at their cell phone numbers, and at their work numbers. They have to participate in teleconferences and videoconferences at work. As a final example, people review web sites and weblogs throughout the day, both at home and at work. They may further download and read electronic books, known as “e-books,” via specialized electronic book reading devices.
There is some prior art to select which information people are exposed to, and how they are exposed to such information. For example, email filters ensure that important messages from coworkers and bosses are flagged or placed in special folders to be reviewed first. Alternatively, users may receive alerts on cell phones, pagers, or personal digital assistant (PDA) devices when certain messages are received.
Users also have been able to select which types of information they are exposed to, based on predefined interests or exposure patterns. For example, personal or digital video recorders record only those television programs that a user has selected, or those television programs that are likely to interest the user. As a result, the user does not have to scan through tens or hundreds of different television channels to select a program to watch.
As another example, many electronic-shopping web sites on the Internet are geared to showing users other potential items to buy based on previously purchased or browsed items. A user who is interested in and has purchased computer-networking books, for example, may be shown other types of computer-networking books that he or she might be interested in buying. Sophisticated methodologies can be put in place, so that a user who has purchased one or more types of books may be shown books of a completely different type but in which the user is likely to have an interest.
However, none of the prior art solutions addresses the problem that people are often exposed to the same information throughout the day. A person may bring up a news Internet web site throughout the day, for instance, to learn the latest headlines. More often than not, however, the news items are substantially the same as they were the last time the user checked them. As a result, the user is constantly barraged with news items that he or she may be interested in, but has already reviewed.
As another example, email messages may arrive that, while not exactly duplicative, contain essentially the same information. The user is forced to parse through these messages to determine whether there is any unique content. As a further example, a person may have a series of teleconferences on the same subject matter, with the same or a different group of people participating in each conference. The user is likely to be exposed to the same information on this subject in the same or different teleconferences, which can be frustrating.
For these and other reasons, therefore, there is a need for the present invention.